DALLAS – There have been times when Goran Dragic showed toughness by carrying the team with Eric Bledsoe out and taking the battering of a sole playmaker while having multiple career-best games.

Just trying showed toughness Saturday night.

Dragic said his sprained left ankle was at 35 to 40 percent strength but he played 40 minutes of the Suns' 101-98 loss to Dallas at American Airlines Center.

Dragic made six of 18 shots for 13 points and four assists. He had particular problems on the perimeter, missing all three 3-pointers and even two of his three free throws. There was a point in the final seconds when Suns coach Jeff Hornacek was going to leave Dragic out if the Suns needed a 3-point shot but a Monta Ellis free throw miss left the lead at two and Dragic re-entered.

"When you're tired, your ankle is not giving you that extra lift so all the shots were short," Dragic said. "It's a tough situation.

"I couldn't drive, nothing. You can see it was not a perfect situation for me. Bad timing that the injury happened. I have to live with that and go on."

Dragic sprained the left ankle during the first quarter of Wednesday's win at New Orleans, staying in for the whole game because of the importance for that victory. He could not play Friday at San Antonio. The rest day and head athletic trainer Aaron Nelson's treatment got the swelling down enough for Dragic to test the ankle Saturday evening. With less pain and better mobility, he decided to play.

"Goran is a competitor," Hornacek said. "I played him 40 minutes on an ankle that he can barely push off of. I think that affected him on a lot of shots. I kept telling him, 'I'll try to get you out,' and he'd go, 'No, I want to go, I want to go.' I think part of it was he was afraid of getting stiff if he sat there. He battled the best he could."

Dragic also had three of his drives blocked and got his only fourth-quarter points on a follow.

"It's tough," Dragic said. "No excuses. I'm a NBA player so we have to go through those pains and I tried to help my teammates as much as I can."

3 chances

The Suns missed shots on their final three possessions, once for the lead and twice to tie.

With Dallas leading 99-98, Vince Carter missed a 3-pointer and Eric Bledsoe pushed the ball ahead to Gerald Green, who pulled up for a baseline jumper that missed.

"I thought he might take it to the basket but Vince Carter was there so he took a little stepback shot," Hornacek said. "That's a shot that Gerald makes a lot. He just didn't make that one."

After Ellis made one of two free throws for a 100-98 Dallas lead, Hornacek designed a play for Bledsoe to receive a pass on a curl. When he drove into finish, Ellis ran under him with glancing contact and help defender Brandon Wright blocked the layup try.

"I thought he got bumped," Hornacek said. "There was some contact there. A lot of times at the end of games, they don't call the contact but that's a tough break when you think might be able to tie the game up."

Ellis again left the door open by making one of two free throws for a 101-98 Mavericks lead with 9.7 seconds to go.

Markieff Morris inbounded for the Suns and popped back out to get the ball back. He pump-faked with Wright there and dribbled one step to the right before missing a 3. Morris, a 32.4 percent 3-point shooter this season, was 0 for 2 on 3s in the previous five games and had not taken one Saturday night.

"If any of our guys would get an open look, we thought maybe Markieff," Hornacek said. "We knew they'd stay with Channing (Frye). Gerald, they're going to stay with. Maybe we could have had Eric (Bledsoe) or Goran go off the dribble but then you worry about them fouling too. We felt like if they were focusing on all those guys, Markieff's a good 3-point shooter. He had it but by the time he got it off, Wright was able to recover and jump up there and put a lot of pressure. He had to arc it more than he probably wanted to."

Morris was 2 for 8 on Saturday, making both shots in the first quarter.

"They had a long defender on me and a great contest," Morris said. "It was a tough shot. Maybe we could have got a better one."

Frye snaps slump

Frye came into Saturday night with a streak of 15 consecutive missed 3-pointers but made his first five 3s of the game.

Frye bolstered the Suns' start with four 3s in the first six minutes for a 16-8 Suns lead. He added a second-quarter 3 and miss an early third-quarter 3 that was his last 3-point try.

"A little too much, too late," Frye said. "I don't really look at it like that. I felt like I was doing the right things. I felt like I was playing hard every game. Everyone is just like, 'Channing's not shooting 3s,' but I felt like I was doing other things to help the team. Setting good screens, playing defense, trying to rebound when I have opportunities, get other guys open. It'd be nice to hits 3s but I felt like I was working on other things and continuing to be aggressive."

Free throws

* Ellis and Nowitzki scored more second-half points (44) than the Suns (41).

* Suns guard Bledsoe has never scored more points in consecutive games than Friday and Saturday (59) but he also has never made more turnovers in consecutive games (14).

* Hornacek on Ellis' season-high tying 37 points: "Monta was great tonight, driving off the pick-and-rolls. He was attacking. Knowing that we were going to try to show on Dirk but get back to Dirk quickly, he's used to that. I'm sure there are a lot of teams that worry about Dirk. He just attacked and got to the rim. Then he made 3-pointers on us. We couldn't stop him."

* Nowitzki told Dallas coach Rick Carlisle that he would play 48 minutes Saturday night. After Nowitzki's 21-point second half, Carlisle said, "He is just one of the most amazing guys I have been around and I've been around some amazing guys. He was not going to allow us to lose this game."